Bash thy army the right way
Bashing the military is a favourite past time of the ones who feel they have been enlightened. Following this trend, an increasing number of people want to join this enlightened group, so they have taken to bashing the army too. The tool is a laptop; the location is a cosy house in Defence. The new army bashers however, in my humble view, need to know a thing or two before launching into a gallant bayonet charge. So I have decided to help them out and will now try to explain how to effectively bash the malicious military, or how to ...
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PTI & PML-N: Saviours of justice or a national joke?
There is never a dull moment in the land of the pure. We have a special knack to turn even solemn things into national jokes. A few leading political parties of the country have tried to hoodwink gullible people by posing to be ‘saviours of the judiciary.’ Unfortunately, they have been doing so with complete impunity and have, so far, remained successful in their designs. The PPP-led coalition government has also been accused of hatching conspiracies against the independence of the judiciary. This spectacle began on January 19, 2012 when Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appeared before the Supreme Court in a ...
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Islamabad Diary: The extent of consensus around a polarising military leader
After The New York Times, followed swiftly by The Washington Post, idly speculated last month that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was on the way out, chatter in the capital has centred around the role of the army chief. The consensus, to the extent that there can be a consensus around a polarising military leader, is that Kayani has lost the plot but will leave only if he wants to. Those who come to bury Kayani always begin by praising him. One military official said were it not for Kayani, the army as an institution would be on life-support. He ...
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Musharraf is just not a good brand
The Musharraf brand, if you will, is pretty toxic. For all the talk of grassroots contact campaigns, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) rarely hits headlines, or captures public imagination. It doesn’t help that the leader of the APML, Pervez Musharraf himself, is not in the country. He is spending most of his time criss-crossing the United States (US), meeting various local support bases among the expatriate community. I guess his brand value is greatest among ineligible voters. APML’s political strategy remains a mystery. The much publicised Facebook support base cannot be counted on. Musharraf has stated that he will return to Pakistan ...
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Loyalties: Musharraf and Gilgit-Baltistan
One wonders why the people of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) are still sympathetic towards former president Pervez Musharraf. Given that many people in the country consider him to have left an unpleasant legacy, especially one which has left Pakistan embroiled in an unending war. Many friends and acquaintances say he is an absconder from the courts and that he sold Pakistan out to the Americans for personal gain. The same people say that Musharraf was a dictator and during his regime the rule of jungle prevailed. So, if for the sake of argument, all that is true, then how would one explain ...
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Leadership, and the curse of public sentiment
In a recent electronic address, Pervez Musharraf announced that he is a sayyid. The desperate, attention seeking former president spoke of his visit to the roof of the Holy Kaaba from where he shouted out slogans in the name of God. Taking a seeming U-turn from his long “enlightened moderation” stance, Musharraf went on to announce his support for religious organisations. Without his army resources, this is how he thinks he can win hearts – not sure about minds. He isn’t wrong, because this is how people play politics in Pakistan. They use emotions based on religious thought to persuade ...
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Save your breath, PML-Q!
The PML-Q’s disapproval of the present regime’s tactics at placating the ‘religious right’ clearly indicates that politics in Pakistan is replete with irony. Caustic remarks were made with reference to the PPP’s inability to sustain support for progressive and moderate elements within the country and instead succumbing to pressure from religious extremists. Some PML-Q leaders have also gone to the extent of saying that there is no fundamental difference between the current leadership and the autocratic Zia regime. This anti-government tirade appears a tad insincere keeping in mind the fact that this ‘religious right’ were once empowered by the PML-Q ...
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20 reasons we asked Musharraf to go
We Pakistani’s at times are so eager to see the bright side of a coin we neglect to notice that the coin’s edges are black with grime. Similarly, Syed Abid Raza Abidi has written a post presenting 50 points for which Pakistan needs Mr Pervez Musharraf but he failed to glimpse the other side of the coin. I have 20 solid points which prove Pakistan doesn’t need Musharraf. He allowed Nato and American forces to launch attacks inside Pakistan. Can anyone on earth justify the killing of thousands of innocents? Terrorism increased during his presidency because of which all of us are still ...
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Musharraf, the next Rana Sanaullah?
As a critic of Pakistan’s political system, I am constantly blighted by the fact that I did not vote. Even though this fact lies heavy on my conscience, I also know that I will not vote in the next elections either, simply because I cannot willfully bring any of the existing parties into power. The PPP, the various Muslim Leagues, the dreaded MQM, the right wing parties who form coalition governments no matter who wins – every single candidate remains unacceptable. Maybe it was the desire to have someone to vote for, maybe it was nostalgia, but the truth is, I actually waited for ...
Read Full PostLooking for General Patriot
Did I hear someone support the next martial law to be imposed by “any patriotic general” who is willing to clean Pakistan’s political mess? Pure genius! Why didn’t we think of this? Can patriotic general sahib also please fix the economy and increase the living standards of the people? While you’re at it, we would like to request you to uproot feudalism and fix democracy for us too. Oh oh… can we also have Kashmir? Once you clean the mess, you can hold elections and the politicians will take it from there. By the way, since we are talking about ...
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